We sometimes take this approach to God. If I just do what I think will please God, I will get what I want. The Scribes and Pharisees did it with the law. The temple priests did it with the ritual rules of sacrifice. Jesus’ own disciples tried their charm with the titles they heaped upon Him: Messiah, King of the Jews, Teacher, Prophet. The crowds acclaimed His miracles and His feeding of the multitudes. Everyone tried to get into the act of getting Jesus’ attention by stroking His ego. They spared no flattery, if they thought it would work to their purposes. They did whatever they thought it would take to get the prize they were looking for—power, prestige, popularity, security, influence, titles, or whatever…
But God was not impressed. Jesus always preferred the honest sinner to the fake saint. He noticed those who were sincerely struggling to do the right thing for another’s benefit the widow’s mite, the centurion’s plea for his servant rather than those who strived for their own success Zebedee’s sons or the elder son in the prodigal parable. Charm doesn’t win Jesus over. Straight talk does. Recall the dialogue with the Syrophoenician woman for her daughter’s health. Jesus wants the best for others, but often people don’t know what is best for them. Like Baxter, they just want more and more of what gives them immediate pleasure without considering the consequences for their life and happiness. It is not what tastes good and satisfies now, but what nourishes our spirits with lasting meaning and ongoing hope. It takes a sincerely generous person to want these things of the spirit, not charm and manipulation.
Baxter will keep trying to charm more food out of me, and hopefully, I will resist his initiatives for his own good. Let us keep trying to do the right thing for others, so that we can’t resist God’s grace at work through us.
-Monsignor Statnick
